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Wooden and brass craniometer, France, 1840-1880

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Skull sizes were measured with this craniometer and its hinged attachments. French surgeon, anthropologist and pioneering craniologist Paul Broca (1824-80) used it. Craniology studied the bones of the skull to group people according to intelligence, race, and criminal temperament. It was often used in the late 1800s as the basis for anthropological theories. These explained human evolution and justified the colonisation of countries populated by ‘less evolved’ peoples. Craniology became less popular, but measuring tools like this persisted. They were used for decades by police in France and the United States as part of the Bertillon system of criminal identification.